‘Primary Trust’: Actor William Jackson Harper and Playwright Eboni Booth

WLIW-FM In Conversation

WLIW-FM is proud to partner with The WNET Group’s ALL ARTS for this special edition of WLIW-FM In Conversation.

“Primary Trust” is a simple story from the mind of playwright Eboni Booth: 38-year-old Kenneth (William Jackson Harper) loses his long-time job at a bookstore, forcing him into a terrifying-but-electrifying cycle of change.

Presented by Roundabout Theatre Company and running through July 2 at Laura Pels Theatre, the play spotlights a small number of locations in the fictional suburb of Cranberry, N.Y., where Kenneth spends most of his time either at work or evenings drinking Mai Tais at Wally’s with his one and only friend, Bert. When Kenneth is told his boss is moving across the country and therefore closing the store, his sense of self is rattled. But as he and his routine are shaken, he finds that maybe — just maybe — he had been mistaking comfort for happiness all along.

ALL ARTS facilitated a conversation between Booth and Harper about “Primary Trust,” their individual creative processes, collaborating to bring a story from script to stage and more. Listen to the conversation or read the transcript here.